This invention is directed toward skinning machines for removing skin and fat from meat parts, and more particularly toward a skinning machine that has a linkage assembly adapted to raise and lower a skinning assembly on the skinning machine.
In the meat processing industry, it is necessary and desirable to remove the skin and/or fat from a meat part, before separating the muscles for processing. To date, this is often done manually, using knives. Not only does this manual method require substantial labor, but it also is time consuming and creates safety hazards with the potential for lacerations and cumulative trauma injuries. Alternatively, automated systems have been used to remove the skin and/or fat, but these conventional automated systems have an abundance of parts with a great number of wear points, and also have insufficient means for properly balancing the force on both sides of the skinning assembly.
Specifically, typical automated systems are used in a variety of applications, each with unique requirements of the machine setup. In several of these applications, it is necessary for a shoe of the skinning assembly to rigidly maintain position relative to a toothroll. In others, it is necessary for the shoe to “float” relative to the toothroll, so it can respond to variations in product thickness. In some of these automated systems, mounting of the shoe is accommodated in a variety of ways. Often, the shoe mounting mechanism is the most sophisticated part of the machine, and it has a fundamental impact on the operating performance of the skinner. In general, the skinning assembly is positioned either rigidly or non-rigidly to “float” on either end. Generally, it is desirable to allow the shoe to float in such a way that the two sides of the shoe can move independently. Thus, one side of the blade on the skinning assembly may take a deeper cut in the product than the opposite side of the blade. Additionally, the skinning assembly may be cleaned by elevating the skinning assembly into a cleaning position. In the cleaning position, the skinning assembly may be located far enough away from the toothroll to facilitate wash down of the toothroll and all sides of the skinning assembly.
These conventional skinning machines work well for certain applications, but suffer from certain deficiencies. Specifically, a large number of parts are required for providing “float” capabilities to the skinning assembly, as well as providing a mechanism for elevating the skinning assembly. With this large number of parts, there are a great deal of points prone to wear in the conventional skinning machines. Additionally, in skinning machines where the skinning assembly “floats”, there is a lack of any mechanism for balancing the force applied between the two sides of the skinning assembly.
Therefore, a primary objective of this invention is to provide an apparatus for self-balancing between the two sides of the skinning assembly.
Another objective of this invention is to provide a skinning machine with fewer parts that are more economical to manufacture.
A further objective of this invention is to provide an apparatus for lifting the skinning assembly with an asymmetric design primarily located on one side of the skinning assembly.
These and other objectives will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the following disclosure.